


Just To See Him Smile

by love_stella



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Multi, Relationship Negotiations, Snowball Fight, a prank war, and an impromptu fashion show, boys trying to flirt with a boy, ft drunk singing, stupid jokes, this is so self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 20:24:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13689171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_stella/pseuds/love_stella
Summary: “Hey Forts,” Jér asks, once Alex has stopped suffocating. “I’ve had a really bad day and it makes me feel better to see a pretty boy smile.” Phil has a feeling he should probably stop Jér before he finishes the line, but as usual, Jér’s too quick for him. “So, would you smile for me?”or, 5 times Phil and Jer tried to make Alex smile and failed, +1 time they weren't trying but succeeded





	Just To See Him Smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aimerai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimerai/gifts).



> IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW IS MENTIONED IN THIS STORY, CLOSE THIS PAGE AND SAVE US ALL SO MUCH EMBARRASSMENT.
> 
> This exists solely because I was spamming Aimee with pictures of Forts smiling and she said she wanted a 5+1 of the Lauzers trying to make Forts smile. It escalated and turned into...this.
> 
> Thanks to Lotts for looking this over and fixing my mistakes and Aimee for encouraging me and laughing when I threw things at her and helping make this so much fluffier. ILY both <3<3

1.  
After a few drinks, someone — Jér swears it was Peter, but Phil was looking straight at Sam — suggests they take over the bar’s sound system so they can have a lip sync battle. That’s definitely not the chill night out coach thinks they’re having, but there’s no way Jér’s stepping down from a challenge. He doesn’t even need to look at Phil to know they’re going to wipe the fucking floor with their teammates.

The bartender tells the boys that they can’t actually have control over the radio, but they can sing along to whatever songs come on as loudly — and badly — as they want, as long as they don’t scare other patrons away.

And that’s how Phil and Jér wind up playing air guitar before the words to “I’ll Be There For You” — yes, the fucking _Friends_ theme song — start.

They have the brilliant idea to try to match the *clap clap clap clap* after the first line, but it ends up being more of a series of smacks to Phil’s nose and Jér’s forehead with the last clap being the only one where their palms connect.

Jér’s not sure when Phil grabbed Taylor and started swinging their arms wildly and shouting about how “your love life’s DOA,” but considering Jér just finished doing some sort of tango with Antoine, he really doesn’t have any room to judge.

They don’t even make it halfway through the song, collapsing onto the chair Alex was sitting in a few minutes ago — wait, why isn’t he in the chair anymore? Phil has the sense to look around the bar for him, but can’t find him anywhere. Yes their singing was _bad,_ but it wasn’t holy-shit-clear-the-room bad. Zach must see him looking, because that stupid smirk appears as he says something about how Alex “had some emergency at his billets’ so he took off.”

“Do you think we scared him off?” Jér asks, shoving Phil off the chair for a second and pulling him back onto his lap.

“He was _fine_ five minutes ago, you saw him laughing at Bouch and Raf when they were trying to sing T-Swift,” Phil says, staring at his phone as if willpower alone will make a message from Alex appear. “I thought I saw him smile into his glass when we started, but the next thing I know he’s gone and we’re sitting in a chair and now my nose hurts.”

Jér can’t resist kissing Phil’s nose as he pouts, but this is serious. Alex can’t be mad at them, can he?

“I thought Zach was just being a little shit when he said Forts wasn’t happy with us, but now that I’m thinking about it, he seems sad whenever we’re around,” Phil says with his face pressed into Jér’s neck.

“Yeah, lately he always has an excuse about why he can’t hang out when _we_ ask,” Jér says. “Maybe we did something and just. Don’t know?”

“Well whatever it was, we need to fix it. Forts should never not have a smile on his face,” Phil pouts, and ok, Jér should really get Phil back to the hotel before he falls asleep.

“Don’t worry _mon beau_ , we’ll figure it out,” Jér whispers, motioning to their teammates that they’re taking off.

 

2.

Jér and Zach always have road trips to Val-d’Or circled on the calendar, and this one is no exception. Lately their parents have insisted on Phil coming home with them, but this time they’ve decided to drag Alex with them. When he asks them why he woke up to Jér standing over his bed while Phil grabbed his suitcase and Zach looked through his closet, Jér mutters something about how “my mom wants to feed you, she thinks you’re too skinny” and Zach just _smirks_ before heading out to the car, as if that settles anything.

When they get to the Lauzon house it’s still early enough that they’ve got a few hours to kill before dinner, so Manon tells them to get out of the house for a while, and that “Jérémy, did you know they opened a new skate shop at the mall? You boys should check it out.”

Zach wanders off as soon as they get to the mall, so it’s just Phil, Jér, and Alex trying to find a new jacket to replace the one Jér somehow managed to lose on their road trip to the Maritimes. Phil’s not really planning on doing anything more than shopping, until he finds the most hideous shirt he’s ever seen: a short sleeve button down that’s absolutely _covered_ in light and dark blue and white flowers. He’s grabbed it before he even realized that this could be the perfect opportunity to get a smile out of Alex, but he’s going to need a model. Luckily, Jér’s digging through sweatshirts and Alex has his nose in his phone on the other side of the isle so he won’t see them hatching their plan.

“Jér, try this on,” Phil says as he shoves the shirt into Jér’s chest.

“What? No, that’s hideous.” Jér cringes as he holds the shirt at arms length like it’s personally offended him.

“I know it’s awful. That’s the point,” Phil explains, already scanning the racks for another atrocity. “It’s so bad Forts will laugh at it — ”

Before he’s finished his sentence, Jér’s rushed into the dressing room with the shirt, telling Phil to “grab Forts this won’t take long.”

When he comes out of the dressing room — Phil’s convinced if there was any sort of hallway Jér would be attempting to strut and pose before he reached the end — Alex looks like he’s not sure he should be laughing at the shirt or not but he’s got his phone out to send a snap to the Huskies’ group chat.

He cracks a smile when Jér runs out and comes back to the dressing room holding two headbands: one, cat ears, which Phil has to bend over so that Jér can put them on his head; the other, mouse ears, placed on Jér’s head with a smirk. The smile disappears moments later when he sees what Jér’s shoved into Phil’s hands: a muscle tee and gym shorts.

Phil’s expecting Jér’s appreciative whistle when comes out of the dressing room — he knows the shirt shows off his arms and entirely too much collarbone, he’s worked hard and is allowed to show it off — but he’s not expecting Alex to make an aborted choking noise, turn red, and rush out of the room, muttering about how someone should be trying to keep an eye on Zach in case he stirs up shit somewhere.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” Jér says, not looking away from a mark he’d left on Phil’s shoulder blade the night before. Phil smirks before heading back into the dressing room to change; if Alex isn’t there, what’s the point of showing off?

“He’s not wrong, your brother is probably being a pain in someone’s ass right now,” Phil jokes through the door.

“Yes, but Forts didn’t have to just… suddenly decide to be Zach’s keeper. Maybe this was a bad idea,” Jér says, and Phil would put money on Jér standing right against the door trying to think up an excuse to join him. He sounds so defeated that Phil’s tempted to let him in, but they’ve been together long enough that he knows Jér’s probably faking.

“We can figure it out later, your mom probably wants to mess up your hair and we shouldn’t keep her waiting,” Phil laughs, hiding behind the door so he doesn’t get the mouse headband thrown at him in retaliation.

 

3.

Phil’s not expecting Jér to launch Operation-Make-Forts-Smile during practice, but when they’re taking a break after line rushes he realizes he probably shouldn’t have turned his back on a stone-faced Jér holding his gloves Very Carefully. Yes, that’s shards of ice running down his back, and Jér’s lucky Phil was sitting on the boards in front of the benches, making it much harder to turn and tackle the shithead.

Jér looks like he wants to dump snow down Alex’s back, but the last thing they need is to fuck things up again so Phil grabs a handful of snow from in front of the goal and does his best to shape it into a ball before throwing it at Jér’s back. Phil gets two more shots in, one to Jér’s ass while he’s still turned around, and another to his chest, before Jér skates over and grabs his own handfuls of snow to throw at Phil.

Phil’s not sure how long they’ve been throwing snow at each other, but when Jér reaches down to gather more snow his glove hits the ice. Phil’s about to laugh at how they’ve used up all the snow when someone skates up to them from the other side of the rink and stops on a dime, showering them in fresh snow.

“Are you lovebirds done flirting yet?” What a shock, Zach’s the one who decided to open his mouth. “I’m pretty sure we’ve got work to do, but by all means, please I’m sure there’s enough snow left to make snow-dicks for each other.”

Zach’s about to say something else when Jér scoops up a handful of snow and shoves his glove in his brother’s face, shutting him up quicker than Phil thought was possible.

Before Zach’s done sputtering and wiping the snow from his eyes, trying and failing to skate after his brother, Coach blows his whistle and puts an end to the Lauzon Brother Snow War before it can even start.

As they're skating towards the bench, Phil swears he can see Alex smiling through his glove, but before he can say anything to Jér, Coach is whistling again for everyone to pay attention to the next drill: puck battles in the defensive zone.

Phil doesn't intend to end up pinned against the boards with Jér holding him there, but they're battling over a puck and they might have gotten carried away. Phil's just glad no one else is within earshot because Jér, the shit that he is, won't stop whispering in his ear about how Alex is watching them from the bench.

The next time Jér looks over his shoulder he realizes Alex isn't watching them anymore. In fact, he's not even on the ice anymore. Phil takes advantage of Jér's lapse in concentration and flips them so that Jér’s now pinned to the boards before freeing the puck.

“Phil, wait, look at Alex,” Jér says, sounding serious enough that Phil turns his head to look for their friend.

“Wait, where did he go?” Phil asks, pushing off Jér and quickly stroking his arm in apology for the “ummf” he let out. “Were you just messing with me the whole time? He’s not there.”

“No, I swear he _was_ watching us, I don’t...what happened?” Jér murmurs quietly enough that Phil’s has to lean in closer to hear.

“If you’re looking for Forts, try the locker room _after_ we’re done,” Gabe says, which, _shit_ were they being too obvious? “He twisted his ankle — don’t worry, he’s fine — getting off the ice while you two were fucking around. Coach told him to he could head home.”

Phil doesn’t even need to look at Jér to know they’re feeling the same strange mix of emotions: concern for their friend being injured, embarrassment for being caught trying to get Alex’s attention, and annoyance at themselves for fucking up with him _again_.

“We can text him asking if he’s alright the second we get back to the locker room,” Jér says, more to himself than Phil. “Maybe that will make him smile.”

“I hope so, _mon beau_ ,” Phil says, taking off a glove so he can squeeze Jér’s hand. “I hope so.”

 

4.

It’s still second nature for Alex to follow Phil and Jér back to Phil’s billet after school, but this time Phil and Jér are nervous. They spent most of the morning looking up stupid — written on a fucking popsicle stick-level stupid — jokes, Jér telling Phil that the jokes will be so stupid they’ll _have_ to make their friend smile. No one asked what they were doing locked in the bathroom during lunch, Zach glared at Raf when he tried to ask, obviously thinking they were hooking up and not wanting to have to bleach his brain, when really Phil and Jér were practicing the jokes, nailing down who said what and when they were supposed to say it.

The one thing they didn’t practice was how to begin the conversation, but luckily Jér’s never been one to shy away from a challenge.

“Forts, Phil doesn’t think any of this is funny, but we found a bunch of jokes online last night and _I_ think they’re stupid-funny. You wanna hear a few?” Jér says as they’re getting settled in Phil’s room.

“Ok, go for it,” Alex says.

“Why did the mushroom go to the party?”

“I don’t know, why?” Alex says, the corners of his mouth starting to rise.

“Because he was a fungi!” Jér exclaims, the smirk threatening to overtake his face. It’s enough to startle a laugh out of the other boys in the room, but when Phil risks a glance at Alex he’s disappointed to see that although the tips of his cheeks are pink, he’s more focused on his homework than Jér’s _ridiculous_ joke. Surely there has to be something good enough to get him to smile.

They try a few more jokes about birds sticking together, tissues dancing, and chickens, but nothing gets the reaction they’re looking for. Jér looks at Phil, waiting for him to give him the go-ahead to break out the big guns, which Phil reluctantly gives.

“Hey Phil,” Jér asks.

“Yes, Jérémy,” Phil replies, hiding his smile behind the textbook he’s supposed to be reading.

“Kiss me if I'm wrong, but dinosaurs still exist right?” Jér’s laughing before he gets the few words out, and Phil has no choice but to lean over and give his boyfriend a peck on the cheek.

Neither of them miss the startled intake of breath from Alex, sitting on the edge of the bed, followed by the sound of him choking on his gum.

“Hey Forts,” Jér asks, once Alex has stopped suffocating. “I’ve had a _really_ bad day and it makes me feel better to see a pretty boy smile.” Phil has a feeling he should probably stop Jér before he finishes the line, but as usual, Jér’s too quick for him. “So, would you smile for me?”

Alex looks like he wants to say something, eyes darting from Phil to Jér and back, the blush that was already there suddenly turning a deep shade of red and rushing down his neck. Phil wonders if one day he’ll be able to see if the blush continues past where he can see, but fuck they’re trying — but before they get a chance to ask what it is, Alex runs out of the room. They hear the sound of the front door slamming before they realize Alex left his books, jacket, and — wait, is that a shoe? — on Phil’s bed in his race to leave.

“Dammit Jér, that was way too far,” Phil mutters, or at least, that’s what Jér thinks he’s saying. It’s hard to hear him with his head buried in his palms as if that can rewind the last five minutes. Jér doesn’t waste a second pulling Phil up the bed so they can cuddle sitting up against the headboard, doing what he can to show that even though their friend ran away they’ve still got each other.

“I didn’t mean to make him leave,” Jér whispers into Phil’s hair. “I just wanted him to smile. These stupid fucking jokes were supposed to get him to laugh, they worked on you this morning.”

That’s enough to startle a laugh of out Phil, because as childish as the jokes were, combined with Jér’s over-the-top delivery, they were indeed enough to make Phil break down into chuckles when they were rehearsing them before Alex came over.

“We’ll give it one more try, _mon beau,_ ” Phil says, almost too quietly for Jér to hear. “If the next thing doesn’t get his attention we’ll stop. We can’t keep doing this, it’s not fair to either of us.”

“At least I didn’t make the stupid candy joke,” Jér says later as they’re drifting off to sleep. The last thing he remembers is Phil wrapping his arms around him a little tighter and pressing a kiss to the back of his neck.

 

5.

“Ok, which one of you assholes took my towel?” Phil shouts from the back of the showers at everyone in the locker room. He waits a few seconds before emerging, dripping wet, holding a washcloth over his junk and glaring directly at the back of Jér’s head. Ideally he’d be glaring at Jér’s face, but he’s currently doubled over laughing so hard Phil swears if he turns around he’ll see tears streaming down his face.

Honestly though, Phil would rather be looking at Alex, but that’s not possible either; as he came into the locker room Alex mumbled something that sounded like “ohheyileftmysockoutthereyeah” before tripping over his shoes and darting out of the room. Maybe they went a little too far this time, since Alex definitely wasn’t smiling on his way out of the room, and — shit, why is Zach staring at them? Phil’s certainly not going to be the one finding out. Jér can deal with his brother later.

“Are two ok?” Zach asks once their teammates have cleared out. “There's no trouble in paradise I hope.”

“Not that it's any of your business, but we're fine. I could tell you what we did last night if you're that concerned.” Jér smirks. “Why do you suddenly care so much?”

“You're both paying way too much attention to Alex, only I seem to be the only one who's noticed.” Zach says, putting a hand over Jér's mouth before he can say anything. “Don't act like tying Phil's skates together was an accident, or that Phil actually meant to wipe your blades but somehow tape wound up on them instead. In the past week there’s also been: Phil’s Under Armour mysteriously turning neon yellow, all the music on your playlist being nothing but Taylor Swift, itching powder in both of your shorts, which I’d rather not think about ever again, and don’t make me talk about the hair dye in Phil’s body wash.”

“Surely you’ve heard of pranks, Zach,” Jér smirks.

“I grew up with you didn’t I?” Zach answers. “But you only seem to pull shit when Alex is around, but you never actually prank him, and I’d like to know why. You know I’ll ask _him_ , I just thought I’d give you both a chance to explain yourselves before I went to him.”

Shit, that’s the last thing they need, but as much as they don’t want to admit it, if _Zach_ knows something is up Alex might know too.

“We’re not trying to fuck around with Alex or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Phil says once Jér’s a solid presence at his back. “It’s just. He seems sad? Not around everyone else, you’ve seen him laughing with Fonts and Bouch during practice. But the second we come in, he just. Shuts down? So we’re trying to make him smile.”

“Only problem is that nothing we’re doing is working,” Jér adds. “We’re running out of ideas.”

“Oh my god, you’re both idiots,” Zach says — and, ok, Phil would really like to wipe the smirk off his face. “Have you tried talking to him? I know it’s a crazy idea, going up to him and saying ‘Hi Forts, did we do anything to make you sad because, we didn’t mean to,’ but hey, Alex is simple, it would probably work.”

Apparently that’s the end of the conversation; if Zach could have dropped a mic he would have before he grabbed his gear and _sauntered_ out of the room like an overly-pleased cat.

“As much as I hate the thought of taking my baby brother’s advice, he might actually be right,” Jér says, staring at Alex’s stall as if that’s all it would take to get their friend to come back.

“We are desperate. Maybe we can invite him over once we get to the hotel in Sherbrooke and figure it out,” Phil answers.

 

+1. 

Jér makes sure they have some sort of privacy on the bus: he sprawls across two seats while Phil grabs the seat directly behind him, and somehow they’ve convinced Zach to help make sure Alex _has_ to sit next to one of them so they have an entire bus ride to gather the courage to invite their friend over when they get to the hotel.

Phil’s never been more thankful for the fucking Lauzon smirk, Zach and Jér using it on Alex as a challenge — what, you aren’t _afraid_ to hang out with your best friends, are you — while Phil says that they’re going to watch whatever NHL game is on and “we’d really like it if you came over, we miss you.”

Jér honestly doesn’t even know what game they’re watching once they’ve settled on the bed, all he can think is _Alex_ and _Phil_ and _warm_ . Not that it matters, the other boys are more focused on whatever’s on Alex’s phone, but Phil catches his eyes a few times and the look in his eyes makes Jér feel that whatever they’re doing is _right_.

He doesn’t realize he’s almost asleep until he feels someone shuffling off the bed — Phil, he’d know the sound of those footsteps anywhere — and suddenly the room’s too cold and the lights are too bright.

“You want to get the lights, _mon beau_?” Jér asks, pulling the blanket up higher over their laps.

Jér’s not counting on the thump of Alex falling out of the bed, shit, is he alright?

“Jér, that’s not funny, you know Phil’s in the bathroom,” Alex says, looking like he’d very much rather be the one in the bathroom.

Shit. Jér didn’t mean to call Alex that out loud. That’s for Phil and Jér to whisper when they’re alone and wishing he was in bed with them.

As if on cue, Phil comes out of the bathroom, hesitating before sitting on the edge of the bed like he’s afraid to scare Alex off.

“It wasn’t a joke Alex,” Phil says, reaching for Jér’s hand so he knows he’s not having this conversation alone.

“We want you to be happy,” Jér says.

“And we think you could be happy with us,” Phil continues, and how can Alex think this is a joke when Phil’s eyes are staring right into his soul.

“We’ve been trying to get your attention for a while now,” Jér says. “The shit we pulled during practice, the pranks, anything we could think of to make you smile.”

“The ridiculous jokes were his idea, don’t worry,” Phil says, laughing at the way Jér immediately starts pouting.

“I thought you were messing with me,” Alex whispers. “That you figured out that I had feelings for you both and were rubbing it in my face.”

“Never, how could you think we could be that cruel? Especially when it’s _you_.” Phil just sounds so sad that Jér has to rub his thumb over his knuckles to assure him that everything’s ok.

“I know what you’re thinking, you won’t mess anything up between Phil and I,” Jér says before reaching out and nudging Alex’s hand with his pinky, letting him decide if he wants to take it or not.

“This isn’t a fling either. We want you for as long as you’ll have us,” Phil pleads.

It’s then when they see it, Alex’s lips curling up hesitantly at first until the smile overtakes his face, eyes crinkling and nose scrunching up with the force of it.

Jér squeezes Phil’s hand as if to say, ‘Can you believe it? We finally did it.’ And he doesn’t think it’s possible to be _this happy_ about something other than Phil, but it’s _Alex_.

Jér’s not sure who leans in first, but Alex is in between them and one of his hands is on Phil’s shoulder while Jér’s holding his other hand and all he knows is that this is _really happening_.

Turns out it’s _really_ hard to kiss when you’re smiling so hard your cheeks _ache_ — clashing teeth isn’t fun at all — but they’ve got plenty of time to figure it out.

**Author's Note:**

> -a bunch of the 2016-17 rouyn-noranda huskies make appearances
> 
> -Jer actually owns the shirt he tried on, i feel bad for picking on it it's a nice shirt https://www.instagram.com/p/_p3CLXBmS2/?taken-by=jeremy_lauzon
> 
> -Aimee i hope you're happy _mon beau_ is a thing
> 
> -After every failed attempt to make him smile, Phil and Jér leave little presents for Alex to find the next morning. It’s usually candy hidden under his helmet or useful things like stick tape slipped into his backpack, Alex thinks it’ll stop once they start dating but Phil and Jér just get more sappier with their gifts. When he finds a stuffed husky holding a bag of candy in the trunk of his car, he walks straight up to Phil and Jér where they’re getting changed in the locker room and kisses them both on the cheek and the three of them don’t stop smiling so hard Zach says something about their faces freezing like that. 
> 
> -The line that Jér wanted to use on Alex earlier but Phil wouldn’t let him? “I just had to come over and talk to you. Sweetness is my weakness.” Yes, he says it as often as he can because Alex smiles everytime.
> 
> -i'm on @gauthboy on tumblr and @pldweeb on twitter if you want to scream about these dorks


End file.
